Fdi In Real Estate Drying Out

Foreign direct investments into real estate has been losing momentum in the first quarter of 2008, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said in a report covering the January-March period.

Investments worth 333.4 million euro in January-March is the lowest quarterly figure reported for the past two years, the BNB report noted.

Experts ascribed flagging interest to the global financial crisis and the restricted and more expensive financial resource. The first signs of the slowdown appeared late last year when a score of investors started backing out from medium and large-scale projects.

According to realtors in Bulgaria, the summer season will be sluggish because of the ongoing European Championship and the forthcoming Olympics. Yet forecasts are that the market invigorates and exits the financial crisis in the autumn.

Last year, Bulgaria reported an all-time high with investments into real estate of 2.15 billion euro.